


Just an oversight

by kavka_obecna



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21559384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kavka_obecna/pseuds/kavka_obecna
Summary: Tiny character exploration centered on Theseus and guilt.
Relationships: Newt Scamander & Theseus Scamander
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Just an oversight

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2!

_Theseus grips the paper, creasing the edges._

_"GRINDELWALD CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM"_

_He knows what the article is about._

_"While posing as the head of MACUSA's Department of Magical Law Enforcement ..."_

_He knows, and he should stop reading –_

_"... preventing him from releasing the Obscurus."_

_– but his eyes are glued to the wrinkled page, and everything is falling apart, and he must not look at the moving photo on top of the article –_

_"... illegally smuggled beasts. With the excuse ..."_

_– and he cannot breathe, the words are blurry, jumping across his vision –_

_"Before the President could be informed ..."_

_– and he wants to wake up, because this cannot be true. He would have never let this happen, no, not to –_

_"... Newton Scamander was sentenced to death."_

✘

Theseus wakes up with a start.

The Daily Prophet paper is so vivid in his mind, he could swear it is a real memory.

Newt’s portrait.

“Another victim.”

He rolls over to his side, arms shaking as he wraps them around himself.

This feels like the correct reality, but Merlin–

He lets out a weak breath. Newt is _alive_.

He feels the sweat on his back, the tangled sheets around his limbs, the night breeze from the half-open window. The quiet surroundings feel misplaced, in sharp contrast to his racing mind.

But he is awake, back in the world where Newt is alive and _safe_.

His reasoning catches up and aligns with what his senses are telling him. Theseus forces his eyes to open. Dark ceiling, a soft grey light on the edge of his vision and the long shadow of his wardrobe.

Another long breath.

His pulse is not slowing down, but he feels a little more securely positioned in reality. With a sigh, he forces himself off the sticky bed. Soon he finds himself in the bathroom, blindly searching for the faucet. The cold, comforting touch of metal.

He runs the water, splashing it on his face.

Theseus _knows_ that Newt is safe. He should be on a boat heading back to London at that very moment.

He leans down to rest his forearms on the sink’s rim, the stream trickling down over his fingers and wrists.

Yes, Newt should be back home soon, as he informed him in a brief letter; and this time, he is certain the other correspondent is the correct person, Newt, not a –

A tremor runs up his spine.

Merlin, _he should have known_.

He should have known he was not exchanging letters with one of his oldest friends. He should have recognized it right away, he should have noticed the lack of personal topics, the excessively probing questions, the tone that did not quite fit.

If he did not dismiss it as a result of Percival’s stress, of the workload that he himself knew so well – if he thought about it, he could have revealed Grindelwald's identity and Newt would have never been put in danger. Grindelwald would not be able to interrogate him, to take Newt's stupid suitcase, to–

He stops the water, closing his eyes again, vague shapes of the room replaced with complete darkness.

Newt would have never even _seen_ that execution room. That terrifying, medieval room that haunted Theseus’s dreams ever since he learned of what happened and his imagination ran wild. And of course, he only heard about it through the Ministry – during a meeting that followed Grindelwald's capture. All of his colleagues were there as he heard, for the first time, that his little brother was nearly executed.

Newt could have been _dead_ and it would have been his fault.

**Author's Note:**

> I am really sad because the Fantastic Beasts movies could have been absolutely wonderful, I adore the concept, the beasts and Newt, but instead we got ... this. (Never going to be at peace with Queenie's arc.) I think the most interesting aspects of the story remain unsaid and unexplored in canon, and I tried to peek into one of those here.


End file.
